kraken

In the Imp: It's certainly lighter than I expected. I thought I'd be overwhelmed as soon as I opened the imp, but I have to stick my nose right down to it to get the notes. It's mostly the dragon's blood followed by the musks. Initial Wet: Definitely a "dark" scent. Musk is the most prominant, resulting in a sultry scent. Initial Dry: Now the dragon's blood equalizes out with the musks and adds its sweetness to the mix becoming both seductive and powerful. Drier Dry: There's a tiny bit of sourness to this now. I think one of the musks doesn't like me as much as the others, but the combo is still very dark, heavy, and sexy. The sourness isn't constant and drifts in and out, becoming less noticeable as it ages. As described, dragon's blood and musk. It's a strong scent on me with a good throw. It makes me want to snuggle up to someone special.

In the Imp: Pink bubblegum, no doubt. I can practically smell the artificial flavoring and sugar. Initial Wet: Still pink bubblegum of the generic bubble gum flavoring. Initial Dry: Now some of the fruitiness comes and and goes a bit sour on my chemistry, but not as sour as more pure fruit notes. Now it smells like fruit gum instead of pink bubblegum. Drier Dry: As it dries fully, a lot of the bubblegum disappears to be replaced with more of the fruity lollypop smell. Underneath it, I can definitely smell the perfume. This has to be one of the few scents that I've tried that, on my weird chemistry, is exactly true to description. Bubblegum and lollypops over a heady woman's perfume. It definitely makes me giggle, but I'm not sure it's something I'd wear very often. I think it would definitely perk up my mood when I'm feeling too stressed or serious.

In the Bottle: It smells like caramel and rum over apple cider with just a hint of coconut. Initial Wet: The apple turns and goes sour almost immediately , but the throw is a sweet, spicy, buttery scent, like a pie baking. I don’t know where I’m getting the “spicy” scent from; it could be the rum doing weird things with my chemistry. Initial Dry: Ah, now the bad apple sour turns into a tart apple, like a granny smith, just barely ripe. The caramel becomes more identifiable as caramel rather than just a sweetness. I’m starting to think this is a fruit blend that I can wear, which would be yummy! Drier Dry: Wow, my skin eats this fast. It becomes very subtle and turns into caramel apple. Every once in a while, I think I can smell a bit of the coconut rum, but then I take a closer sniff and it's gone. It’s definitely foody, but not as strong as some other sweet foody scents. It’s light and delightfully autumn. What’s really Creepy is that this is a fruit scent that not only doesn’t go bad and stay bad on my skin, but it also smells like the fruit it’s supposed to!

In the Bottle: A sweet and spicy incense. Initial Wet: It's all resiny incense, very aromatic with a lot of lovely throw. Initial Dry: The incense slowly blends with the cake sweetness so it becomes like a spice cake. (If you were eating a spice cake in a room scented of incense.) It's a yummy scent, but not overly foody. Drier Dry: Awww, the currents have gone sour on me causing the rest of the scent to turn into stale cigarette smoke and sweat *stompsfoot* I wanted this to stay like a sweet incense. It was so very lovely (and it still is on my sleeve). But it's gone all rotten on my skin Maybe I can turn this into a room scent on a diffuser...

In the Bottle: Florals, then ... white wine and bananas? Initial Wet: Sweet florals and that weird banana-ish note. I don't know most of the notes listed in this blend, but it reminds me of sweet tropical florals. Not the real heady flowers, but the subtler scented ones. Whoa, wait, stop the presses... there's pear in this? A fruit that's not going insta-sour on my skin? *happydance* Initial Dry: Mmm, still the light tropical florals and now a bit of green behind it--could that be the cucumber? Drier Dry: The throw remains quite powerful through the drydown. There's a few minutes of soured fruit, but then it goes away, never to be smelled again. The scent fades slightly, but then remains present for hours. It even picks up a bit of sweetness from the pear. Yummy! I was expecting for this to go sour on me, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It's a nice tropical-ish floral, the type of floral blend I like. Definitely a keeper.

In the Bottle: My first whiff got the buttery pumpkin scent. Then my second whiff got a cherry lollypop. I sniffed again and it was a slightly spicy cherry candy. Initial Wet: And the pomegranate goes sour *sigh* There's a little bit of pumpkin behind the sour, but it's mostly yuck. Initial Dry: Ah, that's a bit better, sort of. Now it smells like a sour cherry bubble gum (if such a thing existed). I'm thinking of those sour pucker candies that have that extremely sour coating around it. Drier Dry: Now it’s just a candy sweet scent with a hint of sour. Very lollypopish. None of the nice subtle pumpkin sweet I got from the other Pumpkin Patches.

In the Bottle: It's a smokey scent with a touch of sweet and spice to it. I would call it a masculine scent that reminds me of a gentleman's cigar room. Initial Wet: Oooh, a nice, dark wood scent with spices. There's just a touch of pumpkin sweetness and ivy greenness underneath. Initial Dry: Now the scents really mingle and become complex. What really struck me was that I walked past a patch of fresh cut grass where some autumn leaves had been mulched in and some English ivy had been cut as well and it smelled just like this! Drier Dry: The sweetness really amps up for some time, overwhelming the woods. It almost becomes cloying, then it blends with the galangal to bring back some of the spice and woods. The green ivy seems to be all gone. Overall, the scent is nice, incensy, and masculine. I enjoy it, but I don't know if it's one that I'd wear all the time.

In the Bottle: It smells like a cross between spicy apple pie with a buttery crust and the steam of mulling cider. Initial Wet: And the apple goes immediately sour on me, like rancid apple juice Initial Dry: The spices come through more now, but it's still mostly sour. There's a soft hint of sweet, but I think it's from the pumpkin rather than the apple. Drier Dry: Oh, the full drydown is so nice and sweet, like spiced apple cider with brown sugar. Sadly, it takes well over an hour to get there and there's still a vague sour undertone. Ah, well, one of these days I'll find a fruit that doesn't go instantly bad on me. At least pumpkin doesn't!

In the Bottle: It's a sharp green, spicy scent with buttery overtones. Initial Wet: The butteriness lays out over a strong sandalwood scent. Underneath it I can smell a sweetness coming from the pumpkin. The orris is still a green scent. Initial Dry: The orris starts to soften to a sweeter note and the sandalwood is not quite as spicy--more just a warm woody note. The orris is really becoming the most prominant note in this blend, though the sandalwood seems to want to contest it. Drier Dry: It's mostly orris over the pumpkin with the sandalwood as a firm base. It's a dry, yet slightly sweet scent, not overly floral or fruity or spicey, just nice and mild. I don't use the word creamy often to describe scents, but this would certainly fall into that category. It reminds me of the last warm day of autumn before the chill really starts to set in, but after the leaves have already started to fall. I've been looking for a nice autumn scent for myself (fruits and I don't get along, so apple scents are right out). This is certainly all I wanted that scent to be and more.

Utterly ethereal, an exquisite expression of love: moonflower, lotus root, white gardenia, beeswax, peach blossom, blue musk, stargazer lily, golden osmanthus, ti, sandalwood, hyacinth, ylang ylang, and a touch of vanilla bean. In the Bottle: I get a rather soft, green floral with a hint of some warm spice--probably the musk and sandalwood. Initial Wet: Mmm, gardenia. It's the first impression I get. But then it morphs into a very sharp, strong floral. I can't identify the exact notes. It's rather like the entire brass section of an orchestra blaring at once. Initial Dry: Floral bathroom soap I still can't pick out the exact floral notes except to say that they're very strong with a soapy undertone. Drier Dry: The soapiness is gone. There's just a hint of the vanilla under the strong floral and there's beeswax occasionally in the throw. But it's still just mostly floral. Way too floral for me. I think I was holding out hope for the white gardenia, beeswax, blue musk, ti, sandalwood, and vanilla bean to be more prominant than they are. The full drydown would be a nice floral if it weren't on me. I like the throw, but I don't like the main scent. <---full of sadness

Velvet is my old fave. It smells like antique silk velvet on me. Jezebel is my new sweet'n'sophisticated fave. It fades to a nice honey sandalwood scent that's unlike anything else.

In the Imp: It smells like a candy bowl of assorted fruit-flavored hard candies. It's very sweet and I get no sandalwood. Initial Wet: Orange creamcicle! It made me giggle since orange blossom has never worked on me before--it usually goes immediately sour. Wow, that brings back childhood memories of after-school snacks at grandma's house. Initial Dry: Ah, now the orange blossom is going a bit sour on me, but it's also fading behind the roses. The honey begins to come through and the scent morphs into honey-roses. I almost get a green scent really faintly, though I don't know where it's coming from. Maybe that's the sandalwood coming in. Drier Dry: It dries to a lovely honey and sandalwood scent with just a hint of floral. The orange blossom sour has reverted to a light orange note with no sourness left. It's a lovely "womanly" scent on me. Much different from my normal preference for myrrhs and other resins and woods. I'm very pleased with the florals in this being very gentle and not at all overwhelming or "perfumy". The throw is a wonderful honey note that's not too strong or overly sweet. Ah! It's so not fair! I'm trying to trim back my box of bottles This scent is just so uniquely happy, sweet and charming on me that I want to buy a whole bottle of it. I rank it up there with Alice as one of my favorite sweet-but-not-like-cake scents.

In the Bottle: Sharp like cut grass--not lawn grass, but giant stalks of elephant or field grass. There's a hint of spice in there too. Initial Wet: Very strong vetiver and clove. There's an almost-mint green undertone, which I think might be part of the geranium. It's very leafy and grassy, but reminiscent of cut or dying leaves--not quite all dead and dry, but not living and brightly green. Initial Dry: Wow, the throw is strong, like arm's length+ strong--something sweet and spicy and cloying. The geranium is really prominent and behind that is the vetiver. For a while it's very "perfumy" where I can't pick out any notes specifically. Drier Dry: The throw has faded significantly and the primary note is now a sweet grassy scent with the hint of decaying grass underneath it. It reminds me of a pile of hay that's been left out too long. I'm still not sure about this. I'm not sure it's a me-scent. I do like the drier dry scent and I like the idea of the scent, but the strength of the throw nearly makes me nauseous, and it lasts for a couple hours. Like many scents, I think I'll put this in the back of the box for a few months and see what happens to it. It's not an instant no, but it's a not an instant like either. ETA: The throw has turned to soap I guess it's definitely not a me-scent.

In the Imp: A very light floral that even right up against my nose I can hardly notice. Initial Wet: Very floral quickly turning to soap. Initial Dry: Floral bathroom soap. Drier Dry: Floral bathroom soap. Bleh. I knew I ordered this for a reason, but I put it on not remembering the notes. I was very surprised when I re-read the description. No tea, no ginger, maybe only the barest hint of grapefruit. All I can think is that the apple blossom consumed everything else and then exploded.

In the Imp: It's like sticking my nose into a giant rosemary bush that might have some lavender in bloom nearby. Initial Wet: Yup, definitely that sharp, almost-mint-like smell of rosemary plus a whole lot of lavender. I have to say that for several minutes it's like the rosemary and lavender are competing to see which can be the most prominent. Then slowly I get another scent coming up from below, lemongrass. Initial Dry: It's much softer now and not so herbally sharp. There's a mellowness in the scent that makes me want to say there's some vanilla in here as well. There's also a bit of spiciness in there, but I'm not sure what it is. I wouldn't say it's the usual spice suspects of cinnamon or clove, it's not quite so fiery. Maybe nutmeg or even carnation? Or a resin I'm not familiar with. Drier Dry: It faded very quickly (which is probably fine if I put it on before I go to sleep). Now it's just a faint floral with a little bit of soft spice. I thought maybe the spiciness might be amber, but it doesn't go sour on me the way amber does. I'll update later if I have any weirder than normal dreams.

In the Bottle: The scent is sharp with no sweetness at all. Carnation and incense with a hint of rose. Perhaps the sharpness is clove. Initial Wet: That sharpness carries over to my skin, but the throw is all honey. The sharpness fades to florals, mostly carnation. It's so very different from the throw that it's startling. Wrist away from nose = warm fresh honey, like a jar picked up from a farmers' market in the midde of summer. Wrist near nose = florals, like from flowers that are almost too old to hold scent, so not sweet at all. Initial Dry: The florals fade and the woodsy-musty sandalwood, tobacco, and labdanum come in. The amber and honey settle into the background. The throw now reminds me of honey mead--not as pure honey before, but with a slight sharp note, which could be the clove or the amber. Drier Dry: After many hours, it still has a strong honey throw and is a soft, spiced honey on my wrist. The amber and the honey is lovely together and there is just a hint of tobacco and sandalwood. This is quite the morphing scent. It really did feel like walking from one part of a large manor to another. To me it's like Luperci meets Velvet, but without the myrrh. I loves it!

In the Imp: I'm not exactly sure what to make of it. I can smell that patchouli note that I don't like, the thing that tickles the back of my throat with sourness. It smells vaguely alcoholic, not drinking alcohol, but the alcohol base used in other perfumes. Initial Wet: How strange, I get a green woodsy scent, with a tinge of something like pine resin. It's not unpleasant, but unexpected. The musk is very forward. Initial Dry: The violetness of the orris comes out and the musk fades into myrrh. It begins to aquire that warm dry scent of myrrh that I love from Velvet. Drier Dry: The patchouli and myrrh blend into a warm, dark note that lingers just over the sweeter violet note. I think I'm in love with it, though I have to try it a few more times to be sure. The morph from the wet to the dry is a bit strange and I want to make sure the musk doesn't go wonky on me. This would be Velvet's older, wiser, perhaps jaded, sister.

I've had an absolutely horrible time getting some scents off my skin. Usually, when plain soap and water fails, my trusty Dawn dishwashing liquid works. But when that doesn't, I have a bottle of Bi-O-Kleen Produce Wash sitting by my kitchen sink that usually does the trick. And if that doesn't work, I top it off with Dr. Bronners liquid peppermint soap. Usually one of those or a combo works (except in the case of Harvest Moon which just wanted to stick around and stick around just to spite my allergies).

I have a cold and in a moment of complete nose clarity, I got a chance to sniff the Chrysanthemum Moon I put on this morning. My first impression of the throw is Old Spice Sport deoderant. Drier Dry: Nose to wrist, a very sweet floral ginger. Specifically like dried fragrant flowers (I'm pretty bad at naming floral notes unless it's rose or jasmine and this is not either) and candied ginger. Perhaps a hint of a sweet tobacco. After many hours, it morphs to a more honey-ginger scent. I get more and more fond of each time I sniff it. I think I was hoping this would be closer to Red Lantern, but with a sharp ginger note. Not exactly what I expected, but I think I'll put it away and try it again later.

My stab: Sin (amber, sandalwood, black patchouli and cinnamon) Queen (described in reviews as pepper, chocolate/vanilla/honey, patchouli, earthy/herbal) Aeval (sage, sweet pea, bold pale musk and warm tonka) Voodoo (blend of myrrh, patchouli, vetiver, lime, vanilla, pine, almond and clove) The Red Queen (Deep mahogany and rich, velvety woods lacquered with sweet, black-red cherries and currant) Blood Kiss (vetiver, soporific poppy and blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk) Imp (white peach, amber, golden musk and patchouli) It seems that maybe spicy notes like amber, clove, musk, and patchouli don’t work with your chemistry. Tonka is a spice that’s likened to almond and clove. Woods all have very different notes and some of them, like sandalwood, can be called 'spicy'. You might give The Lion (a golden, spiced amber, proud, regal and ferocious) a try. If that goes bad on you, then it’s definitely the amber. I'm not a musk and patchouli person, but maybe someone else has some scent recommendations to test out those scents. Hope that helps a bit.

In the Bottle: Sweet spiced apple cider in an oak cask. Initial Wet: Oooh, the apples really come out and it smells definitely autumny on me. I get a woodsy, leafy smell behind the apples that reminds me of the trees as they start to drop their leaves. Initial Dry: The fruity sweet turns sour and the woodsy herbal begins to come out accompanied by florals. Unfortunately, the fruit keeps getting more and more sour. Drier Dry: I started having an allergic reaction to it, so I had to wash it off, but it sure had staying power. Hours later, nose to wrist, I can still smell apple cider *sneezes!*. *sighs* The Great Quest to find fruit scents that work on me has met another downer. It's too bad because I really like the In the Bottle scent and I really like the label artwork.

I did much the same thing that Dinerdulcinea did. I'm a spreadsheet fiend My first order was of notes that I knew I liked (vanilla and rose), notes I thought I might like (leather and rum), and scents that people on the forum seemed to like (Snake Oil and O). Then I kept piles of OMG-SoGood!, WouldWearIt, Meh, and BlehNeverAgain!. In my spreadsheet I tried to isolate what was in the OMGSoGood! scents as opposed to the BlehNeverAgain! scents. I even sought help here when I couldn't figure out one of the scents. I also tried anything in the BlehNeverAgain! pile at least one more time to make sure I wasn't just having a bad day. I just started doing swaps and it's really given me a chance to try those scents I haven't tried yet. I'm also more willing now to try something that I think doesn't sound so great because I can just swap it to someone else. And I might just be pleasantly surprised.

I love the Lab's chocolate scents, so I jumped on the chance to get a bottle of this. In the Bottle: It smells like hot cocoa. Not the premade add hot water powdered stuff, but the real, genuine heated whole milk with sugar, vanilla, and unsweetened chocolate shavings. Initial Wet: Oh, no! It's gone sour on me! It smells like... the sour part of sour cream. Where'd the chocolate go? Initial Dry: Oh, there's the chocolate. It's come back slowly. The sour cream is slowly turning into more of a sweet cream cheese scent. The chocolate is definitely a milk chocolate, hovering somewhere between cocoa and brownies. Drier Dry: My skin really eats this one up, unlike Bliss which lasts almost all day on me. I applied it two hours ago and it's already become very faint. It reminds me of cream cheese chocolate muffins. Though I like this scent, I think I rank it below my beloved Velvet and Bliss. It's more of a playful chocolate scent, less sexy and more let's go to the amusement park (or circus or carnival ). ETA: After a second application, I get the Nutella scent that others have been talking about on the drydown. It goes from cream cheese chocolate muffins to Nutella.

In the Bottle: It smells like a fruity herbal tea of the lemon-berry variety. Initial Wet: I can definitely smell the aloe, which is strange because I've never associated aloe with a perfume scent, yet here it is. As it begins to dry, the grapefruit bursts through very strongly. Initial Dry: It remains very citrusy and reminds me of limoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur. It begins to have a vague herbal throw, but I can't identify the herbs--I want to say rosemary is one of them, but that may also be the mix of resins. Drier Dry: The vanilla peeks out just a tad, then mixes with the herbals in the throw. Nose to wrist, the citrus is still the most prominent note followed by the vanilla and then a softly spicy scent, which could be the musk or the resins. Underneath it all is a very vague sour note, which may be my skin rejecting the wine. I was hoping for a sandalwood-vanilla-ginger scent like others had gotten, but the sandalwood and ginger didn't come out on me at all. I like the herbal vanilla, but I don't think grapefruit is really my thing. I might try this at a later time and see if the grapefruit and that sour note calms down with some aging. I really want this one to work, it almost does, and I just love the description of it.

Enabled by evilmistressoftoast... In the Imp: A sweet almond scent punctuated by sharp pine. Initial Wet: It's very almondy with the sarsaparilla sweetness following right behind it. Then the pine comes through along with a vague spiciness that must be the patchouli. Initial Dry: The pine is very prominent, but not in a xmas tree sort of way. It's more of a cut pinewood scent. The vanilla-ish scent of the sarsaparilla lingers just under the pine and the tobacco just under that. Drier Dry: The pine is not so sharp now, but dried down to a nice woodsy undertone. The tobacco and sarsaparilla mingle together in a lovely not-too-sweet warmth, reminding me of sweet pipe smoke. The almond is completely gone, or at least so subtle at this point that I can't pick it out anymore. I was hesitant to try this scent because patchouli is hit or miss on me, depending on the blend, and I don't really like plain patchouli scent. So I got an imp of it instead of getting a whole bottle. On full drydown, it seems like a cross between Tombstone and Coyote, both scents I love. This one is definitely bottle-worthy before the Carnaval leaves town.